The Courting Laws
by LadyDayna
Summary: The Ministry of Magic has reinstated the Courting Laws to help bring about more children without forcing people to strongly. Hermione is very excited about it, until she figures that nobody wants to be with her. How can she come to terms that the one person who wants her isn't joking?


**Courting Requirements Reinstated  
****By Jules Merry**

Due to the low number of wizards and witches, the Ministry has decided that it would be best to reinstate the laws of our past. Arthur Weasley, Minister of Magic stated at a press conference yesterday, that this will ensure more people getting married to the right person reducing chances of divorce and increasing chances of multiple children being born. The laws are as state below.

1. All ladies of the age 15 and older are eligible for courting.

2. All men age 17 and up are eligible to start the courting process with a lady.

3. All men must be married by the age of 21.

4. All men under the age of 21-40, who are not married at the time of this law being enacted, must be married within 5 years.

5. The courting process must take at least a year to complete to ensure proper pairing.

6. If original pairing separates and the man is close to the age of 21, the man has 3 years to marry.

7. Courting processes aloud are stated in the book: Finding and Keeping the One.

The law continues to give requirement for each form of courting process. This reporter for one is excited to start receiving Wedding Announcements.

**Page 6: Highlights To The History Of Courting  
Page 8: Gossip: Who Will Our War Heroes Marry? A Pole On The Likely Candidates**

Hermione had left the Great Hall shortly after reading the article yesterday. Most people thought it was because she was upset that she was going to have to get married, but truth be told she wanted to read the gossip column in private to see who was expected as her possible suitors. She had been surprised to see that the only person she was expected to end up with was Ron, but he was expected to go after Lavender Brown, his girlfriend of the last 3 years.

However, today was a new day and she couldn't wait to get to breakfast to see who was going to try to court her. She had fantasized being courted since she was a little girl, and she read tons of books on knights and their maidens.

As she entered the Great Hall she had expected to only see a few students up as it was still very early for classes; however, it was nearly full as so many students were excited about the courting. Girls hulled in groups talking about who they expected to court them, and what gift they were hoping to get. The guys were eating quietly hoping to hear their names come out of the mouths of the girls they wanted. Hermione could tell that a few guys had heard theirs as they had large grins on their faces and were now straining to hear what gifts they would need to get.

Hermione sat down by herself near the end to stay away from the gossipy girls. She didn't want to hear who the girls expected her to be with again. Last night they girls in her dorm had huddled together to gossip and when they thought Hermione was asleep they had started to talk about her.

**(flashback)**

"_I am so excited, I just know Ron will be sending me a request tomorrow!" squealed Lavender, not even trying to be quiet._

"_Are you sure he will? The paper said they expected Hermione would end up with him too, and they have been friends for so long," stated Pavarti, Lavender's best friend. _

"_Of course he will, we have been together for so long. Plus he said he has never felt that way for her. He sees her as just another sister." Hermione rolled into a ball, hugging her legs as she heard this. She knew it was true, but still had had some hope that Ron felt the same for her as she did for him. _

"_Well, then who do you think she will end up with?"_

"_I have no clue, it's not like she has any good qualities. Alls she does is read and study and who would want to be with some like that. Most guys would probably be bored to death. Plus she is such a prude that even the ugly guys wouldn't go for her as they want someone who would put out. She'll be lucky if she even gets a request."_

"_Yeah, I bet no one requests her and she ends being some crazy cat lady," as Parvati said this, the girls burst into laughter. _

_Hermione felt a tear fall down her cheek. She had never thought about the fact that maybe no one would pick her, she had just been so excited to be courted. _

**(end flashback)**

As Hermione sat waiting for the post, she thought, 'well screw what they think, I will get a request and I will end up happy with someone, even though I don't know who.' She sat up a bit straighter after this thought and tried to look more confident. However, she still didn't feel the confidence in side her as she hoped.

Hermione ate her breakfast slowly waiting for the post. As he stomach had hundreds of butterflies flying around inside of it, she knew she wasn't going to be able to eat her normal portion size, but also knew she must eat or she would be hungry later and she had wanted to go the Library during lunch so she could read up on the courting processes.

Finally the post arrived and everyone looked up as the owls came pouring in. Hermione had a fleeting thought about how she bet there had never been this many owls in the great hall at once before.

Every owl held a letter, many also had roses. Only two had big bouquets, one of dark red roses went to Pansy Parkinson. The other had enchanted lavender roses and lavender sprigs and of course it went to Lavender. All the girls waited to open their letters as the gawked at Lavender. She read her letter out loud to all of the girls, but Hermione couldn't hear it over all of the other noise. However, she nearly had to cover her ears as she heard Lavender squeal. Hermione looked on as Lavender ran to Ron and started kissing him. Hermione quickly looked down at her plate and tried to feel happy for her friend.

Hermione looked around once more and saw that no one was really paying any attention to her. She grabbed her bag quickly and made her way out of the Great Hall before anyone could notice that she had not gotten a letter. She walked calmly until she reached her favorite section of the library, then cast a silencing spell as she fell into her favorite window seat and started sobbing.


End file.
